Leadership in the Classroom: Closing the Achievement Gap through Motivation - Essay Example

ContWK 5 Learning and motivation are key to the issue of the achievement gap. Studies have been done to show that those who are motivated tolearn are more able to learn. As an example, Atkinson (1964 as cited in Feist and Rosenberg, 2010) suggests that there are three things that are involved in achievement motivation that anyone learning anything should have: the motivation to succeed a task, the expectation that they will achieve that task and an incentive that makes the success worthwhile. As an example, an athlete who wants to be a long distance runner must prepare themselves through training, but if they do not have the motivation to succeed or expect to succeed they probably will not do as well as someone who does have the motivation and the expectation to succeed. Estrella (2007) suggests that in order to close the achievement gap, teachers must lead their classrooms and motivate their students. This means that they must engage their students in learning and essentially make them want to learn. This is clear to see that within the context of Atkinsons theory, because children in classrooms must have internal motivation to achieve in order to allow the teacher to bring out the motivation inside the classroom. In fact, Estrella suggests that teachers who are able to see poor performance must check to see whether the child is motivated to learn or not. It is my opinion that there must be internal motivation because there is so much happening in a childs life today. As an example, the computer, television and video games can play such a role in a childs life that they lose their motivation to succeed in school unless the technology is available. This can damage a childs internal motivation and make them listless in school. Gatto (2010) tells students that they must be engaged in his classroom and by using this lesson and six others he has been able to successfully motivate students to learn. References Estrella, J. (2007). Leadership in the classroom: Closing the achievement gap through motivation. Lubin leaders and scholars senior thesis. Pace University. Retrieved October 6, 2010 from http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=honor scollege_theses Feist, G.J. and Rosenberg, E.L. (2010). Psychology: making connections. NY: McGraw- Hill Taylor, J.T. (2010). The six lesson schoolteacher. Retrieved October 6, 2010 from http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/gatto2.1.1.html Read More